ROBERT A. EVANGELISTA

SEPARATION OF PARTICULATES FROM THE WASTEWATER OF THE COAL GASIFICATION PILOT PLANT BY MICROFILTRATION

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The Coal Gasification Pilot Plant in Wyoming was part of the Synfuels Corporation signed into law by President Jimmy Carter.  One result of gasifying coal was a wastewater containing ultra fine particles.  I was told all solid-liquid separation methods tied to date did not remove these particulates.  I used microfiltration to remove all visible particles.

 

Microfiltration

Microfiltration (MF) is a semi-permeable membrane process, like the lining of your lungs, which allows small molecules to pass or permeate the membrane, called the permeate, and retains and concentrates the larger molecules or particles behind the membrane, called the retentate or concentrate. 

 

The Coal Gasification Pilot Plant sent wastewater samples to Dorr-Oliver to test the removal of particulates.  I was told all tested solid-liquid separation technologies failed to remove, or sufficiently remove, particulates to the satisfaction of the sender.  I performed bench-scale microfiltration on the wastewater samples.  All resulting MF permeate and retentate samples were returned to the sender for analysis and were not shared with the tester.  However, the MF tests produced a permeate of visually sparkling water, while the MF retentate was significantly darkened by concentrated particulates.

 

The Coal Gasification Pilot Plant was located in a coal-bearing region with insufficient water resources for their process operations.  From the visual results of the MF permeate, the reuse of the microfiltered wastewater appeared applicable to their process.  The Pilot Plant requested an initial engineering cost estimate, which they received; however, the synfuels program ended later that year.

 

This project was for private industrial client; no publication or report is available.